Here's The City With The Most McDonald's Locations

In the world of fast food, it's easy to say that McDonald's is the top dog, with Starbucks being the sole chain that can hold a candle to its global dominance. As of 2024, the burger chain has a downright ludicrous 41,000+ locations worldwide, with 13,000 American restaurants across each of the 50 states. However, while it's pretty well-known that California is home to the most McDonald's restaurants of any state in the country, the city with the most of the chain's locations is none other than Houston, Texas, which currently has 125 locations within the city limits.

While Houston is a big city, it's not the first that comes to mind when thinking of the absolute largest in the country, making this statistic surprising to many. The East Texas city is only the fourth most populous city in the country as of the 2020 census, notably falling behind cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. Considering both places have ties to the chain — with Chicago being home to McDonald's global headquarters while Los Angeles is down the street from the first McDonald's location ever opened — Houston's dominance over the other cities in the country is all the more fascinating.

Houston is joined by other Texas cities (San Antonio and Dallas) in the top 10 with the most McDonald's locations; San Antonio has 78, and Dallas has 56. However, trailing directly behind Houston's record is Chicago, which has 103 total locations, including the beloved international McDonald's in the West Loop. Perhaps the most shocking tally of restaurants, however, is Los Angeles, which houses merely 63 McDonald's despite being inside the state with the most locations overall.

Additionally, beyond just McDonald's, Houston has made its mark as the fast food capital of the country over the years, housing the most locations of popular chains like Popeyes, Wendy's, Burger King, and several others. As of now, Houston is reportedly home to 3343 fast food restaurants altogether, and as the city is unlikely to stop growing anytime soon, its fast food footprint might just continue to grow alongside it.